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He made his best films at the start and finish of his career


"Maltese Falcon" and "The Dead".

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John Huston had so many great films in his long career that I'd hesitate to call any one or two his best, but The Dead is surely the best endpiece to any filmmaker's career one could hope for.

What's amazing about Huston is that he excelled both at "arthouse" film such as this one or Wise Blood, while at the same time doing equally well with more mainstream action- driven films like The Treasure of the Sierra Madre or The African Queen. Not many filmmakers are so adept at both niches.

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I first watched this as part of a university lecture in around 1994 and disliked it. I finally gave it another look today and was more impressed, although it still feels more of a minor piece and there are quite a few Huston movies I would rank ahead of it.

Beautiful work by Huston jr and the two Donals (McCann of course, but I also loved Donnelly as the drunken Freddie, who seemed almost like a prototype for various big part characters who later showed up in TV's Father Ted. The music and photography were beguiling in a low-key way, the anecdotes and speeches mostly held the attention. Nice to find a film which so improves upon my long-standing opinion of it, but I do feel that it's a far cry from the glorious swan song for Huston which many seem to declare it. 6/10

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